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The Journal of the Libertarian AllianceVol. 3 : No.1 1982 - Article 1 of 6
useful in the prevention of anaemia. This
Contraceptives and
is especially beneficial in regions of theworld where health care is fairly
drug regulation
rudimentary. Its clinical record is betterthan the Pill at a comparable stage ofdevelopment.
n May 1980 Upjohn Limited, amajor international drug company
Iapplied to the Government for a exist for its long term use in many
injectible contraceptive Depo-Provera. In
Committee on the Safety of Medicines(CSM). There has been widespread
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
debate over the drug and it is thought theparticular Health Minister concerned had
The US has one of the strictest regulatory
to the 'limited benefits' of the drug, the
turns out to be the costliest in terms of
medical and social risks were too high.
missed opportunities for improvedhealth. As the Friedmans show in Free toChoose the FDA has many pressures on
the world. The other is Norigest which is
use any other method of birth control.
approve a drug that turns out to have un-
anticipated side effects resulting in death
the same way as oral contraceptives - the
progestogen and oestrogen, the injections
injectible contraceptive. It can be taken
and that individual will be villified across
difficult future. Yet if the second mistake
easier to forget to take a pill one night
than it is to miss the quarterly injection.
and miss the drug. It is not surprising that
of the drug leads to a slightly higher level
Free Life Archive on the Web from the website www.libertarian-alliance.org.ukVol 3 No 1 Contraceptives and drug regulation - James AlexanderThe Libertarian Alliance is an independent, non-party group, with a shared desire to work for a free society.
futility and damage that it causes. Itsessential uselessness is illustrated by the
to be in the right place at the right time
they also lost a reputation that in the long
for their quarterly dosage. As many birth
people do not want it they will stay away
reluctance to accept and buy new drugs.
unless, as in India, they are forced at the
powerful regulatory mechanismpreventing the introduction of unsafe or
often raise the notion that there should be'informed consent' before a patient can be
said to have agreed to the treatment.
the field of drugs. They are just one set
were being lost unnecessarily through the
difference between a doctor prescribing adrug to clear up some ailment and you
DEPO-PROVERA IN THAILAND
being sold a car to drive around in.Unless a person is a motor mechanic (or
neither an experiment nor an exposé ofsome sinister state birth control
particularly protective editorial expressedfears that the drug would be pressed by
It should be noted first that attitudes to
vidual responsibility, what is the fear? It
is the fear of the drug reaching one of its
Free Life Archive on the Web from the website www.libertarian-alliance.org.ukVol 3 No 1 Contraceptives and drug regulation - James AlexanderThe Libertarian Alliance is an independent, non-party group, with a shared desire to work for a free society.
reliable and the most easy to carry out.
the Pill's case the benefits are thought to
making a "free decision" but then we do
thought of injectible contraceptives.
not live in a perfectly enlightened andpressure-free world. No one can ever
women will suffer, many women willbecome unnecessarily pregnant. As with
DEPO-PROVERA IN PRACTICE
many other drugs, the state prevents theiruse and so decreases personal and social
experience irregular menstrual bleedingthat can cause discomfort and someconfusion if it is taken as a sign of beingat a certain part of the menstrual cycle.A DRUG REGULATION READING
But a London clinical trial with Norigest
found that this was a very minorproblem. The drug may also cause some
Articles
delay in a woman's return to fertilitywhen she stops using it. But here it
contraception, The Listener 4th March
that 92-97 per cent of women becomesuccessfully pregnant within two years of
2. "Rejecting scientific advice", TheBritish Medical Journal 15th May 1982.
evidence that the CSM advised doctors tobe aware of before prescribing the drug -
1 Milton and Rose Friedman, Free to
warned that 'tumours had developed inmonkeys given 50 times the normal
Pharmaceutical Innovation, American
man has not been established'. This is not
altogether surprising since monkeys haveacted up like this on a number of
3. Henry Grabowski, Drug Regulation
Depo-Provera, Depo Provera, 1980.
breast cancer have been reported inwomen taking Depo-Provera but nocausal relationship has been established'.The preliminary results of a study intothe effects the drug on the 80,000 womenin Thailand are showing no extralikelihood that women will get breast
cancer if they are on the drug. Whereas it
Free Life Archive on the Web from the website www.libertarian-alliance.org.ukVol 3 No 1 Contraceptives and drug regulation - James Alexander